Joe Escalante
Musician, attorney, “Vandal,” Catholic, radio-show host—all these describe Joe Escalante, legendary drummer-turned-bass-player for the hard-core punk rock group The Vandals.
Escalante joined the band not at its inception, but a few years later and shortly before The Vandals signed a deal with Epitaph Records. The band then did a 6-song EP for Epitaph.
“And that really did well,” says Escalante. “In fact it got so much airplay on KROQ that I think it kind of distorted the music industry for us. Made it look like ‘oh, we’re a rock band that makes hit records!’” when Escalante says they were “a punk band with a silly novelty song.”
Nevertheless, the band’s EP and single (“Oi To The World”) opened some doors for them. The band got to play better concerts as well as be in movies.
“And then all the punk rock dreams were coming true,” Escalante says. “Then with the second record we made, with a similar line up, the same thing happened. . . we had a silly novelty hit that got a lot of airplay from KROQ and some other stations around the west. And so again that distorted the seriousness of the band.”
Although at this time the members of The Vandals were evaluating their careers, each agreed to stick with the music business a while longer. The band toured, Escalante graduated from college, kept touring, and did whatever he could to keep things together.
“Then, about 1986. . . we had a third record out. It got a little bit of airplay right away, because of our history. But I could see that is wasn’t going to be anything like the ones before. I started to wake up, and started thinking, ‘Ok, this is fun, but. . . it’s not The Clash. This is not The Clash.” He laughs. “It’s just a funny joke band that got a lot of lucky breaks.”
They made the most of them and had a great time.
In 1989, Escalante decided to enroll in law school.
“So all through the ‘80s, we were playing a fair number of shows and doing a fair amount of touring. 1989 was the first year we went to Europe.”
The band spent 3 ½ months touring Europe. When they came back, Escalante went to law school thinking, “I’m going to law school because it’s time to grow up.”
Still, during his time in law school, The Vandals put out their record Fear of a Punk Planet with their current lineup: Josh Freese on drums, Dave Quackenbush, who’s been singing with The Vandals since 1984, and guitarist Warren Fitzgerald, who joined in 1988. Escalante plays bass.
“So at this point, we were back to where we were supposed to be: a punk band, making punk records, just for the sake of making records, not worrying about whether they were going to get airplay or whether there was going to be a big tour; we just did it for fun. . .and we were having fun again.”
In the early ‘90s, The Offspring’s Dexter Holland started his own record label, Nitro Records. Escalante was working at CBS Television as a negotiation attorney, while he and the Vandals were making another record.
“…we played it for Dexter at Nitro and he loved it, so we made an actual real record deal with him. We made a two-record deal, and that was our home for four records. During that time is when bands like The Offspring, Green Day, Rancid, NOFX, and Bad Religion starting blowing up to big levels and we started playing a lot of tours with them. I left my job with CBS and everyone else had flexible jobs, and we did tours—we did the Warped Tour every other year, we went to Europe a couple times a year, so that period from 1994 to 2006 [we did] really heavy touring and then Warren [Fitzgerald] and I started our own label, Kung Fu records. . .we put out a lot of other bands, took them to Europe or all over the country. It was a very good period,” Escalante continued, “until about 2006 when the music industry just collapsed.”
At that time, the major record labels were beginning to sign punk bands and putting out quality punk records. The punk audience, who formally had disdain for buying punk records on a major label, eventually bought the major label’s music and severed their allegiance to Indie labels.
“When we started,” says Escalante, “the audience would not buy a punk [band] on a major label. . . And then when the majors had just gotten into the business—they did a pretty good job and now kids didn’t care where their music came from. The bands wanted to be on the covers of magazines, and they wanted their videos played, and they wanted radio airplay; all of these things that took actual bribery. So the bribery is something the Indie labels can’t afford to do.”
Things had been slowing down for The Vandals, and 1997 marked the end of the band developing new music. They put out their last studio album in 2004, which has involved the band in legal problems that still are not resolved. (More about this lawsuit will be covered in the upcoming Part 2 of this article.)
Today, the Vandals’ phone rings frequently, and their agent, Stormy Shepherd, arranges gigs and tours for them. They play when it’s convenient for all members. Recently, the band traveled to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the military base in Frankfurt, Germany, and played for the troops. It was both fun and rewarding for the band.
In addition to still playing with The Vandals, who are friends and have been playing in the same band about 21 years, Escalante plays in a Morrissey tribute band and hosts two radio shows. One is called Barely Legal Radio and airs Fridays from 11 a.m to noon on internet radio station www.indie1031.com Here, he answers a variety of legal questions. KFWB radio and Radio Weezer also carry the Barely Legal show.
The other is called St. Joseph Radio Presents, of which he is a temporary host at www.stjosephradio.org . It is a show where he interviews folks connected with the Catholic faith. Guests include bishops, priests, and even authors.
Escalante remembers one interview of particular significance.
“One guy was a member of the Yakuza [Japanese mafia]. He was an American who was a drug runner for the Yakuza, and ended up a priest after getting deported out of Japan. He was a Black Flag fan, punk rocker from the South Bay, and he had a crazy conversion story, and wrote a book. . .”
Escalante has always been Catholic, and volunteers at St. Joseph Radio as well as volunteering with his wife at the church he attends daily, St. Peter Chanel.
When asked how he practiced Catholicism while touring with a punk band, Escalante says, “. . .if you’re like a lot of Catholics, you just go to church every Sunday; I would go to confession once a year or something like that. You kind of make up your own rules. Now I don’t make up my own rules; I know the real rules.”
The Vandals’ bass player has monthly meetings with a Spiritual Director, and reads books and takes classes to try to improve his theology background.
“It’s always a work in progress. I’ve been happily married for 14 years,” says Escalante. “Being Catholic definitely helped my marriage.”
After Vandals shows, fans often approach Escalante to say things like, “Hey, I’m a Catholic, and I really like what you’re doing.” His Catholic blog could be what inspires them to talk to him; it could also be the picture of Pope John Paul on his bass.
Whatever the reason, Escalante is happy about it.
For more info, visit the website www.joeescalante.com
